HIBP has been logging data breaches since its inception in 2013. While companies usually inform their customers when there has been a data breach, it is worth being proactive. Thankfully, there are several ways a consumer can find out whether their details have been compromised and how they can do something about it. What this means is there's a good chance that a person's details have been leaked at some point in time. 'Cybercriminals have several techniques to steal user credentials such as phishing, installing malware or creating fake websites.' How do you find out whether your account has been hacked?Īccording to the Identity Theft Resource Center, 1.6 billion records have been leaked since 2005-that is nearly five times the size of the U.S. 'The vast majority of hacking-related security breaches use either stolen or weak passwords and there's very little a user can do if a criminal has the right password,' Acin continues. iStockīut why should Americans be worried about this? Victor Acin, a threat intelligence analyst from Blueliv explained to Newsweek: 'The black market for stolen credentials is huge-they are sold for good money in hidden areas of the Internet.' He goes onto say that for cybercriminals, a valid login and password combination is basically a key that opens doors to a myriad of illegal activitie, from 'blackmail to fraud,' usually with the end goal of making a financial profit. Stock image: Financial institutions such as HSBC have been victims of data breaches.

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